osterbergl



(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Shed 1. P. O. OSTERBERG.

CIGAR RETAILER.

om z r w m M W W w J d W s H F .H. WW 1 .I x s w mi E d 6 2 b 3. w w .1 m h 3 K o w N W i N. PETERS. Phalo-Lilhognpher. Washinglnn. n c.

(No Model.)

3 Sheet sSheet 2. P. C. OSTERBERG.

CIGAR RETAILER.

Zia 6225m- Patented July 31, 1888.

N PETERS. Phaln-Likhagrapher, Wmhfngtnn, D: C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

P. C. OSTERBERG.

CIGAR RETAILER.

Pet-88118888111 1 81, 1888.

[nae/2507.

Nv PETERS, Pholo Liihugrzphen Waihington. D.C

UNirE TATES PER CONRAD OSTERBERG, OF OREBRO, sWEDEN.

CIGAR=RETAILER.

SPEGIFIGATIQN forming part of Letters Patent "No. 387,103, dated July 31, 1888.

Application filed December 23,1885. Serial No. 186,512. (No model.) Patented in Sweden April 28, 1885, No. 99; in Germany August 15, 1885, No. 34,030;- in France August 29, 1885, No. 170.894; in England September 1, 1885, No. 10,364; in Norway December 31. 1885, No. 508; in Denmark December 17, 1886, No. 350, and in Austria-Hungary January 17, 1888, No. 36,354

and No. 66,075.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, PER CONRAD OSTER- BERG, a subject of the King of Sweden, and a resident of the city of Orebro, Sweden, have invented certain Improvements in Cigar-Retailers, (for which Letters Patent have been granted to me in the following countries: in Sweden, No. 99, dated April 28, 1885; in Germany, 110. 34,360, dated August 15,1885; in France, No. 170,894, dated August 29, 1885; in England, No. 10,364, dated September 1, 1885; in Norway, No. 508, dated December 31, 1885; in Denmark, No. 350-, dated December 17, 1886, and in Austria-Hungary, No. 36,351 and No. 66,075, dated January 17, 1888;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

making part of this specification.

The purpose of my invention is to provide an apparatus by which, without requiring an attendant, a purchaser may buy and pay for cigars of different qualities and at different prices, and in some cases may pay for a cigar with a coin of greater value than the price of the cigar and receive back the exact change, while in other cases he may pay for a cigar with two coins which together equal in value the price of the cigar, also by which the near her of cigars sold may be indicated or registered.

The accompanying drawings represent an apparatus illustrating an example of each of the ways of receiving and paying for cigars above mentioned.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the apparatus, the side of the case next to the point of sight being removed to show the interior construction, and a part of the view being in section, in a plane indicated by the line a b, Fig. 2, and looking in the direction indicated by the arrow 1. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, the front side of the casing being removed to show the interior construction, and a part of the view being in section, in a plane indicated by the lines a d c d, Fig. 1, and looking in the direction of the arrow 2; Fig. 3, a top view of the same, the top of the casing and some of the upper parts being removed to show the interior parts below; Fig. 4, a detail view of one of the cointubes; Fig. 5, a detail view of a part of the registering device.

The exterior casing, A, of the apparatus is made of any suitable material, such as sheet metal or thin cast metal, and of a proper form to conveniently inclose the working parts, the lower part of the case ending in an open spout for the discharge of the cigars, one by one, as they are purchased. In the back part of the case are located as many cigar-receptacles as there are to be different qualities or prices of cigars to be sold from the apparatus. I show three such receptacles, B C D, of proper width to receive the length of the cigars to be placed therein, of sufficient thickness to receive the width or diameter of a single cigar freely, and of sufficient depth to contain as many cigars, one upon another, as may be desired to be held in the respective receptacles at one time. These receptacles are respectivcl y provided with bottoms E F G, which are mounted on pivot-shafts suspended by straps at the side edges of the receptacles, which shafts are respectively provided with crank-arms P 1? P whereby a partially-revolving movement may be imparted to the bottoms for discharging cigars from the receptacles. The bottoms are trough-shaped or curvedin the form of partial cylinders, about semi-cylinders, normally lying with their concave sides upward, in which the lowermost cigars in the several receptacles are held to retain all the cigars in the said reccptacles.

In order to discharge a cigar from either receptacle a partial revolution is given to the proper bottom, suflicicnt to turn around the lower cigar and partly over the same, between it and the next cigar above, the movement of the bottom being far enough to discharge the said lower cigar out of the same, atwhich moment the next cigar above is sustained directly by the bottom and will continue to be held up by the same till and after it returns to its normal position again. Thus a repetition of the partial revolutions of either bottom in this way and back again discharges one cigar each time. In order to impart this rotary oscillating movement to the said receptacle-bottoms, I employ a system of lever movements, all operated byasingle handle, H,the arrangement being such that only that bottom is turned each time for which a coin has been deposited in the apparatus, of the proper value to buy a cigar in the receptacle above the said bottom. These levers and their operative connections with the said handle and with the respective receptacle-bottoms I now describe as follows: For the bottom E of the receptacle B a lever, N, is mounted and pivoted, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The lower end of this lever is connected by a rod or bar, O,with the crankarm P on the pivot-shaft of the bottom. It will be seen that by pushing the upper end of this lever back the bottom E will be turned backward and upward, so as to discharge a cigar therefrom. The handle H is secured to a cross-bar, I, extending transversely in the case of the apparatus far enough to have secured thereto a set of push-bars, K, L, and M, all directly in front of the respective levers which operate the respective receptacle bottoms. The push-bar K for the lever N has at its rear end a little platform, I, in a nearly horizontal position, as shown. Upon this platform the proper coin for purchasing a eigarin the receptacle B is to be dropped. This is done byinserting the coin into a coin-tnbe,Q, of the proper size to admit the coin, the lower end of the tube beingjust over the front edge of the platform I, and the lower part of the tube being curved backward somewhat, so as to gently drop the coin flat upon the platform in the right position. The rear edge of the coin then reaches to the center of a horizontally-extended preferably V-shaped groove or shoulder, N, on the upper end of the lever N, while the front edge of the coin bears against a shoulder at the rear end of the push-bar K, and at the front edge of the platform on which it rests. It will now be clearly understood that when the handle H is pushed back into the case, and the pushbar K is thereby moved backward, the coin 5 will form an intermediate mechanical connection between the pushbar and the lever N, and thereby the bottom E will be turned, so as todischarge a cigar from its receptacle, and that if the coin were not therein placed the lever would not be moved by the push-bar K, and no cigar would be discharged. This construction illustrates how,'by this apparatus, cigars are sold and delivered when a single coin just sufficient to buy a cigar is dropped into the apparatus. I have marked the coin shown by the figure 5 to indicate that a five-cent cigar is to be purchased by such a coin. WVhen the lever N has been pushed back by the pushbar and coin,as above set forth, it is caught and held back by a pivoted ratchet-bar, :0, one of the teeth on the lower edge of which catches over the upper edge of the groove N 4 of the lever, a spring, :0, drawing back on the upper end of the ratchetbar to hold it down upon the said grooved edge or other suitable part of the said lever.

Then, as the push-bar K and handle H are sprung forward by a spring, t, the coin 5, being released, drops into a receptacle, U. The lever then is released from the ratchet-bar w and allowed to be drawn forward by its spring .90 by a device which also performs another operation, and which I will now describe. A rock-shaft, O, is located transversely in the apparatus in a proper position above and forward of the lever N, as shown. On this rockshaft is a downwardly-projecting arm, Z, which is connected with the upper end of the ratchetbar 00 by a connecting-rod, m. It will be seen that when the said arm is swung forward by the rocking of the said rock-shaft the lower end of the ratchet-bar will be lifted and will disengage the lever N and allow it to be swung forward by its spring on". This releasing of the lever N by the rock-shaft 0 may be considered merely incidental to the main function of the same, the purpose of which is to swing down a pair of wires or rods, 7c it, which are located below the cigar-receptacles B G D, and on which the cigars set free from their bottoms are first dropped. These wires are then to be swung down away far enough to allow the cigars held thereon to drop and fall to the bottom of the case, from which they are then discharged. For this purpose thewires are held in a pair of pivoted holders, 9 g, which allow a full swinging movement of the wires on their pivots. The upper ends of the wires (which are shown connected together as one at the upper end) are connected by a rod, f, with another arm, 6, projecting from the rock-shaft O, as shown in Fig. 1. Now, in order to give the required rocking motion to this rock-shaft, to perform this office of lifting the rod f, as well as to release the ratchet-bar x, I employ the forward return movement of the handle H and its cross-bar I, as they are sprung out by the spring t after each pushing in of the same. To do this, a drawbar, b, is suspended by trunnions a, in loops or bearings projecting dowir ward from the rock-shaft, and reaches forward, so as to rest upon the cross-bar I. There is a hook-notch or shoulder, b in or on the lower edge of the draw-bar, in such a position that it will catch over the upper edge of the cross-bar I when the handle H is pushed in for selling any cigar. Then, when the handle and cross-bar are again sprung forward, the draw-bar is drawn forward by the cross-bar, and is thereby caused to rock the rock-shaft O", to produce the movements above specified.

It remains to show how the shoulder b of the draw-bar is set free from the cross-bar as soon as it has been drawn forward far enough thereby. This is effected by the upturned rear end of the draw-bar, which, when the drawbar is drawn forward, finally strikes a fixed piece, I), and thereby the forward end of the draw-bar is lifted sufficiently for the purpose, when it is immediately returned to its previous normal position by a counter-spring, d.

This operation is performed every time when a cigar is sold.

' ply of cents.

sa ce 2 I now proceed to describe how a cigar may be sold for a sum less than a given coin put into the apparatus, and the exact change is given back to the purchaser.

The drawings are represented to illustrate how an eight-cent cigar may be purchased by depositing a ten-cent coin in the apparatus, which returns two cents to the purchaser. For this purpose a dime is dropped into the coin-tube R, and the handle H is pushed in, as before described, for purchasinga five-cent cigar. The connection is made between the push-bar L and the upper end of the lever N to turn, by the connecting-rod O, the bottom P of the eigar-receptacle O by the coin falling on a platform, P, in substantially the same way as described above for a five-cent coin, and as sufiiciently iliustrated in Fig. 3, the coin being finally deposited in a receptacle, U. Then, for returning the two cents change, the apparatus is provided with two coin tubes or receptacles, S S, in each of which is kept a suflicient sup- The operation, to be automatically performed as the lever N is swung back and forward again in the act of discharging a cigar from the receptacle 0, is by asuitable device connecting therewith to discharge one cent from each of the two coin-receptacles S S. The discharging device at the lower end of each of these coin receptacles is represented in Figs. 2 and 4. A forked or double spring, A, has inward projections on its lower ends, which spring into the sides of the two coinreceptacles, respectively, about the diameter of a single coin above the lower ends of the two receptacles. Then a vibratory lever, 2,

outside of the receptacles, has a horizontal inwardly-projecting cross-bar or ledge at its lower end, which, when swung under the two receptacles, furnishes a bottom to both and prevents the discharge of any coin from them for the time being. At the upper end of the lever is another crossbar which reaches inside or back of the two arms of the spring A,and is so arranged that when the upper end of the lever is swung out the bar draws the springarms outward and withdraws the projections of the spring from the coin-receptacles, thereby allowing the coins to descend in the two receptacles; but at that time the lower bar or ledge of the lever has been swung under the lower ends of the receptacles and prevents the discharge of any coins therefrom. W'hen, however,thelever is swung in the opposite direction, the said upper bar of the same allows the projections of the spring A to enter the coin-receptacles again below all but the lower coin in each receptacle, while immediately following that movement the lower bar or ledge of the lever is swung away from the lower ends of the receptacles and allows the two coins to drop out therefrom and descend to and be discharged from the lower end of the case simnltaneously with the cigar purchased, and thus the purchaser gets his change at the same time and from the same place as his cigar. This lever z is connected with the operatinglever N, or with a horizontal offset, N of the same to bring it in front of the coin-receptacles S S by a connectingrod, 0, so that the movements of the said lever N effect the movements of the said lever e,- as required.

Next I proceed to describe the means by which a cigar may be paid for with two coins, the two making the exact sum required for the payment.

Suppose, for the present instance, that the price of the cigar is six cents,and it is desired to pay for the same with a five-cent coin and a one-cent coin together. For this purpose there are two coin-receiving tubes, T T, the former to receive the one-cent coin and the latter to receive the five-cent coin, as indicated in Fig. 3. The operation is the same as for asingle coin above described, except that at the rear end of the push-bar M there is pivoted a curved or bentbar, 0 the two ends of which bear simultaneously against the two coins dropped upon the platform from the cointubes, as shown clearly in Fig. 3, so that together the coins push against the shoulder of the lever N which is connected by the connecting-rod O with the crank-extension P of the pivot-shaft of the bottom E of the cigarreceptacle D, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. In this case, if only one coin is dropped into the apparatus, one end of the swiveled bar 0* has nothing to bear against, and the bar simply swings round without moving the lever N The coins drop into a receptacle, U

I propose to connect with each retailing de- Vice in the apparatus a counting mechanism, so that the number of cigars sold therefrom will be accurately shown or registered, and it will be known when the receptacle becomes exhausted and requires replenishing. I show one such counting mechanism to be operated in connection with the first-described selling device from the receptacle 13. From an arm or projection of the bottom E of this receptacle a connecting rod or wire, 71, extends upward to a position near the top of the case where the register is'located, as shown. This connecting-rod is attached at its upper end to a ratchet lever or pawl, 0, which takes into the teeth of a ratchet-wheel, p, on a shaft, r, and a numbered wheel or disk, q, 011 the same shaft shows its registering numbers successively through an'aperture in the case, as shown at the figure 11 in Fig. 5. The different connecting parts are so proportioned that every oscillation of the bottom E of the cigar-receptacle for discharging a cigar advances the wheel q one number. A springdetent, s, has a tooth or projection, s, which enters a hole in the face of the ratchet-wheel p, when the wheel ICC) has made a full revolution and the cigars in the receptacle are sold out. A similar detent to the s on the same detent enters the upper part of the corresponding coin-receiving tube Q at the same time, to prevent the dropping in of any more coins. In addition to this, in-

stead of the highest number to be shown on the number-Wheel (1 there may be some such word as out or end to show through the aperture of the case to announce the same fact.

I claim as my invention- 1. An apparatus comprising the cigar-receptacles B O D, oscillating bottoms E F G, handle H, cross-bar I, push-bars KL M, levers N N N, adapted to be moved by the respective push-bars on the intervention of a proper coin between them, and means, as connecting-rods O O O, for connectingthe levers and pivot-shafts of the oscillating bottoms, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination of a push-bar, as K, bearing a coin-platform, I, thereon, a cointube, as Q, and lever, as N, provided Witha transverse grooved shoulder, as N, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination of a lever, as N, ratchetbar 00, rock shaft 0, having an arm, Z, connecting-rod m, shouldered draw-bar b, and trip projection I), handle H, and cross-bar I, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. The combination of the handle H, crossbar I, shouldered cross-bar b, rock-shaft O, providedwith an arm, 0, connecting-rod); and

cigar-supporting rods 75 76, substantially as herein set forth.

5. The combination of the handle H, pushbar, as L, lever, as N, coin-tube, as R, coinreceptacles S S, double spring A, vibrating lever Z, and means, as the connecting-rod '0,

for connecting the said coin-discharging device and the said lever, substantially as herein set forth.

6. The combination of the handle H, pushbar, as M, lever, as N, provided with aswiveled bar, 0*, and two coin -tubes,T T, adapted to place coins between the swiveled bar and lever, substantially as herein specified.

7. The combination ofa cigar-receptacle bottom, as E, connecting wire or rod a, pawl 0, ratchet-wheel p, numbered wheel q, coin-receiving tube, as Q, and detent 8, provided with detent projections s and 8 substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses,this 18th day of August, 1885.

PER CONRAD osrERBnRe.

Witnesses:

G. 0. W. LUNDGREN, A. HELAND. 

